


slytherins aren’t evil

by straelamo



Series: enha at hogwarts [2]
Category: ENHYPEN (Band)
Genre: Character Study, Internalized Homophobia, Jay through the years, M/M, Self-Discovery, before ilymtq, just 2k of Jay figuring himself out, justice for slytherin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-18
Updated: 2021-03-18
Packaged: 2021-03-27 07:35:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,867
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30119349
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/straelamo/pseuds/straelamo
Summary: Jay is, for all intents and purposes, an idiot.(Or, two times Jay falls in love, and the one time he knows its worth)(Prequel to ‘i like you more than quidditch’)
Relationships: Minor or Background Relationship(s), Park Jongseong | Jay/Yang Jungwon
Series: enha at hogwarts [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2216514
Comments: 10
Kudos: 78





	slytherins aren’t evil

**Author's Note:**

> I’m back!! Don’t worry, the part two I talked about is still coming, it’s just now part three! That one is longer though, and it’s going to take me a while to get it written, plus I haven’t finished editing part one yet, so in the meantime, here’s a little look into Jay’s mind, and his time at Hogwarts before Jungwon.
> 
> ***you could probably read this without reading part one first, but it would be a whole lot better if you did:)***

Jay Park is 11 years old the first time he enters Hogwarts, just like nearly all the other lost, wide-eyed first years. Just as in awe of the beautiful place he would now call home, just as buzzed with anticipation for all the magic he had yet to learn. He had muggle parents, yes, but his mother's sister was a witch, and his father's cousin was a wizard, and Jay had grown up knowing, if not everything about what that meant, that he was a wizard himself.

He also knew, more recently, that his parents were not actually his parents- and his biological mother and father were both dead and charged with numerous crimes. His mother- adoptive, that is- told him all she could. She told him that his parents were something called Death Eaters, and that they were not good people. 

Jay hadn't entirely understood what that meant- at least not until he got to Hogwarts.

Not until the first attribute he heard about the Slytherins was that they were evil. That nearly all the evil witches and wizards there had ever been were from Slytherin. Until a lady in velvety blue robes puts an old hat on his head, and it declares him evil, in front of the whole school.

Jay is 11 years old the first time he hears of the danger of Voldemort and his followers, the Death Eaters. The danger of his parents.

Jay is 11 years old the first time he realizes the importance of hiding who he truly is. 

Jay is 11 years old the first time he rides on a broom. He stands on something called a 'Quidditch pitch', lined up amongst his peers; some a little less unknown than others, but none of them yet friends. 

The professor, in her dark, billowing robes, gives them all the same broom. Jay overhears a student say something about the 'stupid, old-school models', but he thinks the brooms look amazing. 

He feels the magic buzzing through the wood when he shouts, "Up!" and the broom jumps instantly into his hand. He feels the magic buzzing through himself as he flies for the first time, zipping around the pitch with ease.

"You're a natural!" The Professor tells him, "You're certain you've never flown before?"

He hasn't. But as natural as he is, the other students- the ones raised by wizards- they've been flying since they could stand, and they lap him, loop him, outfly him all-around. 

_I will be just as good as them,_ Jay thinks, _better, even._ One day, he's going to be the one to fly circles around them, and he'll prove that he didn't need his wizard parents. 

He'll prove that he has something worth while, no matter if he was raised by muggles. He'll prove himself, just as he would if he were truly muggle-born. 

Jay is 11 years old when he decides, once and for all, that he'll keep his parentage hidden, but he's not going to let them hold him back from anything.

Jay is 11 years old the first time he falls in love- he attends his first Quidditch game. 

The full, screaming stands, the excitement, the nerves. He doesn't even know the players on Slytherin's team, but he cheers for them desperately.

Next to him in the crowd is another Slytherin boy named Mateo. Jay knows him from the dorms, but they've never really spoken much. 

Until the game that is, when Mateo says, "You're muggle-born, right? Me too! If you get confused, my friend, Laura, can explain stuff." He gestures to the Gryffindor next to him, a black girl with long braided hair. "She had to explain all this to me earlier, too," Mateo says, and when he smiles warmly, Jay smiles back.

Slytherin wins, in the end, and for the first time since the sorting, Jay is proud of his house. He walks to dinner with Mateo and Laura- with his friends- his shoulders back, presenting the green tie around his neck with confidence, just as the players strut in with their proud emerald robes.

He thinks, _this is what I want._

Jay is 11 years old when he promises himself: one day, he's going to play for his house. He's going to make Slytherin proud, and he's going to prove that there is more to him than anyone thinks.

Jay is 12 years old the first time he is rejected from the Slytherin Quidditch team. He uses the sadness, keeps practicing, and he just knows he'll get it next year.

Mateo and Laura are there for him. It's strange to have someone his age care so much. They boost his mood, saving the best foods for him at dinner, taking his mind off of it with a few chess games, which they all know Jay will win.

It's a confusing feeling, these warm and fuzzies. Jay was- he should be sad. He worked all last year to be good enough for the team, and even if second years don't usually make it, he's still disappointed in himself. 

But he sits on the floor by the fire in the Slytherin common room, a chess board on the ground in front of him, Laura a few feet away on the couch throwing Bertie Bott's for him to catch in his mouth, and all he feels is content. 

He looks up, Mateo sitting criss-cross on the other side of the board. Mateo, his first friend. Mateo, the one who helped him with his homework whenever he needed it. Mateo, who was just as lost as Jay sometimes when it came to the wizarding world, and Mateo, who was there for him no matter what.

He looks at Mateo and he feels- oh.

Jay is 12 years old the second time he falls in love, even if he doesn't know it then. 

Jay is 13 the second time he is denied a spot on the house team.

Just like before, Mateo and Laura are there for him. 

And he thinks, oh-so-naively he thinks, maybe they would be there for him no matter what.

Maybe, he doesn't need to hide who he was born too.

So, he tells them. 

Jay is 13 when he is reminded of the importance of hiding who he is.

They don't tell anyone, of course, they aren't cruel, but Mateo is muggle-born, and Laura is black, and they've both faced enough discrimination at the hands of traditional thought and Neo-Death Eaters. 

They don't talk to Jay much after that. He doesn't blame them. 

He is the child of people that caused a lot of harm, and created a lot of enemies, and then died before they could serve their time. 

Maybe he is serving it for them- someone has to atone for their horrific actions.

Jay is 13 the first time he loses someone because of his parents. He vows it will be the last.

Things are considerably more lonely without friends, as should have been obvious, but Jay makes due. He branches out in his classes, talks to the students he sits close to in class. He joins a study group and meets some Ravenclaws named Heeseung and Sunghoon that he gets along with okay.

And thankfully, _thankfully_ , Jay is 14 years old when he finally makes the house team.

It took three straight years of hours and hours of extra practice and work outs, but he did it, and that's all that matters. 

Surprisingly, Heeseung and Sunghoon are there to congratulate him. They came to watch try-outs, apparently, and Jay is nearly stunned to silence.

He didn't think- are they- 

"We came to support you!" Heeseung says, "Quidditch is literally all you talk about, I had to see if you were any good!" He jokes. 

Are they _friends?_

"You deserve that spot, for sure," Sunghoon says.

And, yeah, maybe they're friends. 

But Jay has learned his lesson. He won't ruin these relationships like he did before. 

Jay is 14 when he thinks, maybe things will turn out alright.

Jay is 15 the first time he sees Jungwon Yang, and he thinks, _oh no._

Jungwon, a fourth year Hufflepuff, is friends with Niki, Slytherin's new prodigy beater. Jungwon and his friend Sunoo hang around a lot, to support Niki at games and to walk him back from practice. Jay sees them together in the hall sometimes, too, or hanging out with Heeseung and Sunghoon. 

He notices, though, one spring night after practice, the way Niki looks at Sunoo, and he's scared. He's scared for Niki. He nearly pulls him over, tells him not to be so obvious. But Sunoo turns around and Niki's face smooths over, nothing more than that of an affectionate friend.

Jay thinks maybe he didn't see what he saw. Maybe he misunderstood.

But it's only a few weeks later, after Slytherin win the semi-finals, that Jay realizes he didn't misjudge after all. He spots Jungwon in the crowd with ease, and then, horrified, his eyes follow Sunoo as he crashes into Niki, kissing him on the spot. 

Jay's head whips around nervously, and he makes to run over, to protect Niki and Sunoo if he needs to. 

But he doesn't. To Jay's surprise, the crowd _cheers._

Jay is 15 the first time he sees a boy kiss a boy in public without getting punched right after, and the world turns upside down. 

Jay is 15 when he looks at Jungwon, smiling at his friends, and he finally understands. 

Jay is 16 when he realizes how oblivious he's been. 

Now that he's looking for it, he sees acceptance everywhere. Two girls holding hands in the halls, two boys on a date at Madam Puddifoot's. He realizes why everyone refers to that 5th year Gryffindor as 'they', and why one of his former dormmates had moved to the girls dorm. Sunghoon is literally dating Jake, a 6th year Gryffindor, and Jay hadn't even noticed.

He realizes that he is, for all intents and purposes, an idiot.

He's been so wrapped up in the fear of people knowing who his parents are, so muddled in his own brain about who he might fall for one day, too trained by the hateful muggles he went to elementary school with, that he hadn't realized, in this regard, the wizarding world is miles forward. 

It isn't perfect- not even close. Not with the remaining dredges of pureblood superiority or the vast wealth divide among wizarding families. Not with the treatment of house-elfs or werewolves or half-giants, but for sexuality- it seems they don't care.

And if they don't care, why should Jay?

Jay is 16 when Slytherin wins the first game of the season, with him as the Captain. Jungwon and his friends are at the afterparty, and when Jay bumps into Jungwon- maybe not-so-accidentally- he thinks, why not?

He makes a fool of himself, assuredly, but Jungwon promises he'll be at the next game, and Jay thinks, this is something he wants, and it is something he is more than willing to work for. 

Jay is 16 the third time he falls in love. 

And though his heart will always be with Quidditch, Jungwon outshines it by a long, long, long-shot.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed!! 
> 
> I wanted to do a look at what Jay was thinking during the scenes of ilymtq, but somehow it turned into an introspective, kinda character study. If y’all would be interested in some one-shots later on of jay’s perspective in ilymtq, let me know in the comments and tell me what scenes you might want to see!!
> 
> Also, thank y’all so much for the continued love on ilymtq, the hits and kudos are unreal and i treasure every comment I get:’)
> 
> Thanks again for reading, see you next time!!!


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